Spring Awakening opened on Broadway on December 10th, 2006 at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre. It ran for 888 performances and closed on January 18, 2009. In 2007 it was nominated for 11 Tony awards, of which it won 8, including Best Musical. The Original Cast Recording also won a Grammy for Best Musical Show Album in 2008. Lea Michele, star of the hit TV show "Glee," played the role of Wendla.

Based on an extremely controversial German play written in 1891 by playwright Frank Wedekind, the musical combines a 19th century German setting with raw, contemporary rock music. Wedekind subtitled his work "a children's tragedy," and the musical is true to this intention. It tells the story of several teen-aged school children living in a sexually repressed culture where their own parents refuse to answer the simple question of "where do babies come from?" The musical chronicles the journey of the confusion and angst of adolescences, as these young adults deal with issues of puberty, rape, homosexuality, suicide, masturbation, unplanned pregnancy and abortion.

As a Minnesota State University, Mankato audience member, you can expect to see a beautiful simplicity to the scenery, designed by an undergraduate student. You can expect to see percussive and angst-filled modern-dance flavored movement choreographed by one of our BFA dancers. You can expect to hear visceral, powerful rock music as the medium through which the thoughts and feelings of these sexually ignorant youth explode. You can expect sexually explicit activity. You can expect to be disturbed. You can expect to be challenged. You can expect to find hope.